A very sad story today – less than 20 per cent of teenagers read books😦

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Margaret Merga, who interviewed the students as part of her PhD studies at Edith Cowan University, said reading books not only helped teens get better results at school but also boosted their chances of getting a good job and increased their ability to communicate in modern society.

“Communication in this day and age is like a kind of power,” she said.

She was concerned that adolescents were choosing to read less even though demands for more advanced literacy skills had increased.

“Research suggests that aliteracy, the state in which an individual has acquired the skill to read, but chooses not to, is a growing trend both in Australia and internationally,” she said.

Dr Merga said evidence showed that many of the benefits that came from reading books – such as developing a longer attention span – could not be gained from reading magazines, comic books or digital screens…

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